Aspiring hedge fund manager faces jail after admitting killing 15-year-old schoolmate TWO DECADES ago because he was haunted by visions of his victim's mother

A self-proclaimed maths genius and aspiring hedge fund manager who turned himself
in and confessed to the 1990 killing of a childhood friend today faces at least 15 years in jail after he admitted aggravated manslaughter.

Forty-one-year-old Steven Goff told a
judge Thursday he was an 18-year-old 'in a rage' when he stabbed
15-year-old Frederick Hart and left him to die behind their homes in
Galloway Township.

Hart's family reported him missing in May 1990. A hunter found the remains in December 1991.

Goff's attorney, James Leonard Jr.,
told The Press of Atlantic City his client
wanted to get the killing 'off his chest' and bring closure to the
victim's family.

The New Jersey man turned himself in in April because he was haunted by nightmares in which the victim’s mother appeared before him, according to the suspect's best friend.

Racked with guilt: Steven Goff's best friend says the man has been haunted by nightmares over the killing of a boy 23 years ago

Feeling relief: Goff surprised the judge by confessing and saying he was ready to enter a guilty plea at a hearing earlier this year

Alan Rickel has told how Goff confided earlier that he was tortured by what he had done, decades ago.

‘He couldn't bear it anymore,’ Rickel said. ‘He told me he had nightmares. He'd go to sleep and see the kid's mother staring in his face.’

‘He said, “Al, you're not going to see me anymore. I'm going to do something that will shock the world,”’ Rickel said.

Rickel said he knew Goff had psychological problems, and figured he was going through one of his periodic dark spells.

Then Sunday morning, Goff called Rickel from northern Michigan. He said he had been heading for the Canadian border but changed his mind and decided to return to New Jersey and take responsibility for having done something horrible, Rickel said.

‘He said he was going to meet his maker and “fess up to what he had done,"’ Rickel said. ‘I said, “I don't know what you're talking about, but just come back and I'll get you some medicine and some help.”

‘I thought he might be having a psychotic breakdown. He said, “No, it's much worse than that.”’

Rickel said he wired his friend $500 to help him get back home. The next call he got was from Galloway Township police on Monday, saying Goff had confessed to a cold-case murder.

Police and investigators from the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said Goff had told him details about the case that only the real killer would have known, Rickel said.

Goff, a self-proclaimed math whiz and aspiring financial manager, stabbed Hart multiple times with a knife in a wooded area behind the Clubs Condominiums May 7, 1990, according to police.

Cold case suspect: Steven Goff, seen left in his mugshot, turned himself in claiming that he was the one who stabbed to death 15-year-old Frederick Hart, right, in 1990

Plea: Steven Goff, of Ventnor, pleaded guilty when he made his first court appearance in June

The teen was reported missing the following day, but it was not until more than a year later that a hunter came across Hart's remains, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The cause of death had never been determined because officials said Hart's remains had been decomposed.

Goff was nearly 18 at the time of the killing. He was a senior at Absegami High School, where Hart was a freshman.

At a court appearance scheduled to present the murder and weapons charges to him, Goff surprised the judge by confessing and saying he was ready to enter a guilty plea, sobbing lightly as he said, 'I did the crime and I'm prepared to do the time.'

Superior Court Judge Michael Donio advised Goff that he had to wait until being indicted by a grand jury before he could enter a plea.

Goff called Rickel again from jail on Wednesday, reiterating that he was wracked by guilt and simply could not endure it any longer, Rickel said.

‘He said it's been gnawing at him for years,’ Rickel said.

Rickel met Goff 10 years ago and the
two became friends. He said Goff was a skilled mechanic, plumber and
electrician. But every once in a while, Goff would have what his friend
described as ‘a rough spell.’

‘I always thought it was that he was a
moody guy, but now it's obvious that it was because of this,’ he said.
‘He had some demons in him.’

For the past several years, Goff has been very active online, blogging and tweeting about the stock market, economics and politics.

In a rambling profile on the site iBankCoin, the 41-year-old man has described himself as a ‘self educated genius’ and a ‘modern day Renaissance Man’ with a Master’s Degree from the school of hard knocks and a PhD from Google University.

Unsolved murder: Police say Goff was 18 years old when he murdered Hart and left his body to decompose for more than a year in Galloway Township, New Jersey

Illusions of grandeur: Goff, an aspiring hedge fund manager, described himself as a self-taught genius

Dark past: Goff revealed in an online bio that he was sentenced to five years in prison when he was 18 years old on drug charges, and that he was a master safe cracker and slot machine cheater

Goff apparently has been dabbling in stock trading but was hoping to become a hedge fund manager. Speaking of his employment history, the New Jersey man wrote that he had tried his hand at half a dozen trades, including master electrician, baker, cook, teacher and semi-professional poker player.

But according to his online biography, Goff had a dark criminal past that included a five-year prison sentence on drug charges which he received when he was 18 years old – around the time of Hart’s slaying.

Speaking about his past bad decisions, the 41-year-old wrote that he was a ‘master safe cracker thief, liar, professional slot machine cheat,’ a bad father, bad brother and bad son who had been stabbed and shot at.

On another blog site, Goff lamented that his being a convicted felon has kept him from realizing his ‘BIG IDEAS for this world and our species on this planet.’

‘I am now hindered from ever sitting for a LAW BAR exam or a series 7 brokers [sic] exam. Or from ever becoming a teacher,’ he wrote.

‘I am MOST pissed that I can never be called upon to defend my nation in service if need be. They will never let me ever touch a firearm ever again.’

Following his arrest Monday, a friend posted on Goff’s Facebook page that she had seen him and he wanted to let everyone know that he is doing fine.

Another friend expressed hope that ‘this is the last of the skeletons’ in his closet.